Verstappen takes fight to Rosberg in FP3

Max Verstappen ended final practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix just 0.002s shy of Mercedes pace-setter Nico Rosberg.

With Red Bull having been expected to be competitive in Hungary, Mercedes had an advantage of 0.6s after FP2 on Friday. However, final practice saw Verstappen post a late lap of 1:20.263 to all but match Rosberg and increase the anticipation of a close qualifying session.

While Rosberg enjoyed a smooth session, Verstappen completed only 10 laps but still pulled out his quick lap time late on. He was over 0.4s clear of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in third place, with Ricciardo's time coming earlier in the session followed by a long run to check Red Bull's race pace.

Lewis Hamilton was fourth quickest, half a second adrift of Rosberg as he attempted to make up for time lost due to a crash in FP2. It was a disjointed session for Hamilton, who needed his front right wheel rebalancing after a lock-up and also had to change his seat, with the original one having been cracked in the impact on Friday afternoon.

Kimi Raikkonen was just 0.098s slower than Hamilton as Ferrari also closed the gap to Mercedes even further, but with Sebastian Vettel the best part of a second slower than Rosberg it appears Red Bull will be the team to fight with Mercedes for pole position this afternoon.

Fernando Alonso was seventh fastest for the third consecutive session, although the gap to Vettel was 0.4s. Valtteri Bottas finished the session eighth as he evaluated a new floor for Williams, with Sergio Perez ninth and Jolyon Palmer a surprise tenth for Renault.

It appeared to be genuine pace for Renault as Palmer's team-mate Kevin Magnussen finished the session 12th quickest. Jenson Button was 13th - 0.4s slower than Alonso - as both McLaren drivers completed just 11 laps in the session, compared to 25 for Rosberg.

One notable aspect of the session was the number of messages from race control regarding track limits, with a number of drivers highlighted as leaving the track at turns 4 and 11. The FIA has confirmed it will take a "zero tolerance" approach to track limits in qualifying, with lap times immediately deleted for anyone running off at those two corners.

AS IT HAPPENED: Hungarian Grand Prix - FP3

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Romain Grosjean column: Safety car starts and summer breaks

Chris Medland's 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix preview

TECHNICAL: Under the skin of the Mercedes W07

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Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
01	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:20.261	25
02	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:20.263	10
03	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:20.726	22
04	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:20.769	23
05	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:20.859	18
06	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:21.185	22
07	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:21.584	11
08	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:21.649	21
09	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:21.672	22
10	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:21.935	19
11	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:21.975	28
12	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:21.989	13
13	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:22.009	11
14	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1:22.142	15
15	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:22.284	13
16	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:22.402	21
17	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:22.427	22
18	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:22.541	18
19	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:22.816	23
20	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:23.219	23
21	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	1:23.311	24
22	Rio Haryanto	Manor	1:23.513	23

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.